but money the state is owed for medicare, border protection, prison and other federal programs. california taxpayers send more money to the federal government tan any other state. and get back just 78 cents on the dollar. 20% less than it got back under the clinton administration. >> we're giving to washington and they're sending out to other states. >> reporter: 42 states are projecting a deficit in the coming fiscal year. like california, new york, new jersey, florida, and illinois all expect to be billions in the red, making congress wary of setting a precedent. but economists say letting california drown in red ink could hit the national economy hard, because the golden state is home to 12% of the u.s. population and produces 13% of the nation's gross domestic product. >> it's probably an analogy one could make that we are too big to fail. it doesn't mean that we may not have some difficulties, that we need to address ourselves, but the failure of california would be a failure for the country. >> reporter: the budget governor schwarzenegger unveiled friday slashes programs a